Press Release

April 1, 2018

On Sunday, 1st April 2018, Ambassador Kesang Wangdi, DG, BD and Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director for Asia and Pacific, European External Action Service signed the Agreed Minutes of the Seventh Biennial Consultations between Bhutan and the European Union, which was held in Brussels on 23rdNovember 2017

The Bhutanese delegation to the Seventh Biennial Consultations was led by Mr. Kesang Wangdi, Director General, Department of Bilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU delegation was led by Ms. Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director for Asia and Pacific, European External Action Service.

The Agreed Minutes recognizes the progress made in the implementation of the multi annual indicative programme (MIP) for the period 2014-2020 and reaffirms EU’s continued partnership with Bhutan. The EU commitment for the current cycle (2014-2020) has been revised to Euro 45.5 Million and this represents an increase of 3.5 Million Euro’s from the original allocation. In addition, the EU has provided €5 million for Climate change adaptation and will provide €4 million for a project to promote trade diversification.

The Bhutanese side highlighted the Royal Government’s priority areas for the 12th Five Year Plan and underscored the importance of EU’s engagement with Bhutan’s development plan beyond 2020. The EU reassured the Bhutanese delegation that their assistance to Bhutan would continue beyond 2020. Bhutan also receives additional assistance from other regional and thematic funding mechanisms of the EU in areas such as education, climate change and trade.